Aren't We All Monsters?
by Anokara
Summary: The world is a harsh place, and these children with ruby eyes experienced it the worst way. All nine of these children were taken into prison, labeled as "monsters". "A juvenile center is meant for human children", they said. After no more arrived to their cell, the group made a plan. They would escape this place, and find freedom together.
1. Prologue

**Please enjoy! Note: updates will be very slow, just like my other stories~**

* * *

The world is a harsh place, and these children with ruby eyes experienced it the worst way.

The first was framed for killing her own sister with a fire, in an attempt to run away after by turning "invisible". Kido Tsubomi.

The second was accused of drowning his pet, and then making up his own story by "reading others' minds" to contradict their thoughts. Seto Kousuke.

The third was blamed for stabbing his own abusive mother to death, and then "changing his appearance" in an attempt to get away. Kano Shuuya.

The fourth was charged for killing her mother and then turning the men around her into "stone". Kozakura Mary.

The fifth was said to have drowned her own father at the beach, and then use her "lure" to attract people and make it seem like an accident. Kisaragi Momo.

The sixth was identified as something that should be "non-existant" in the world; too precious to break it but too dangerous to let it free. Ene.

The seventh was confronted as a genius who created a living cyber human on his device, then using his "memories" to aid the rest of the juveniles. Kisaragi Shintaro.

The eighth was accused of using his "perceivable vision" to cause an accident to kill his friend. Amamiya Hibiya.

The ninth was said to be an artifical human being, a snake to be precise, that "took over" human beings to commit crimes with their bodies. Konoha.

Was it because of their red eyes the innocent were charged as guilty without a second thought?

All these children were taken into prison, labeled as "monsters". " _A juvenile center is meant for human children"_ , they said.

It first started out with one child. Then two. Then three. Then four. As years passed, the number continued to increase, until it hit nine.

After no more arrived to their cell, the group made a plan. They would escape this place, and find freedom together.


	2. The First Five

At first, she felt very alone. Kido Tsubomi was in a large, isolated cell, too large for a 10 year old like her to stay in. It wasn't completely empty; it was actually well-made for "people like her". There was a separate restroom (with a door, that is), water faucet, and some sheets to keep her warm overnight. It even had a celled window. But, it made her feel smaller than ever before. And it made her want to scream that she didn't do it. She wanted to tell the whole court that it was all her father, that she would never kill her own sister. But what was the point? It wasn't as if they would listen.

It hurt. It wasn't her fault she was trying to run away from the fire. Her sister had told her to quickly get away, and she did. Then, before she knew it, she was suddenly turning invisible. But _why?_ How? At this point, nothing made sense to her.

It wouldn't even help if she were, by any chance, to escape from the cell. There was a metal door protecting the cell, only to be opened by a key.

 _What would happen if I were to die? Surely it wouldn't matter anymore, would it?_ The young child would sometimes think. She thought, ate, slept day by day, until the cell doors opened for the first time in months.

* * *

"I'm Seto Kousuke." He introduced himself blankly, after being pushed into the cell forcefully. He looked to be about her age. Maybe 11, maybe 12.

"I'm twelve years old, if you're wondering." Kido widened his eyes at that.

"H-how did you know what I was thinking? Why are your eyes red?" She asked in surprise.

"I can read others' minds, if you were wondering. I think they turn red whenever I do it." He replied shortly. "They call this the cell for monsters. It must mean you can do something too, right?"

"...You're right. I found this out only a couple weeks ago, but I turn invisible. I don't know if my eyes also turn red, 'cuz they don't have any mirrors here. I'm Kido Tsubomi. Just call me Kido." He nodded.

An uncomfortable silence rested between the two.

"Say, Kido. How did you end up here?" Seto asked.

"They thought I killed my family by setting the house on fire. I was the only survivor, anyways." She responded curtly.

His eyes widened in response. "Did you actually?"

"Of course not!" She exclaimed. "...I loved my sister." She sniffled. "It was my father who set the house on fire. My sister and I tried to get out but eventually, only I survived."

Days, weeks, and months passed with conversations between the two of them, whether it was boring or interesting. Then they met the one named Kano.

* * *

"I'm Kano Shuuya." The red fox-eyed boy said, with a smile on his face, even after being pushed in.

"Your appearance doesn't match what you're thinking." Seto said, and Kano's eyes widened, then narrowed, his eyes changing back to a golden color.

"How would you know?" His smile was gone, and was replaced with a blank glare.

"I can read people's minds after all." He replied with a small smile. "I'm Seto Kousuke."

"Y-you mean there are other people like me?" He said in surprise.

"That's the reason why we're all in here. I'm Kido Tsubomi. We're both twelve, and I turn invisible." The green haired girl reached out to shake his hand, and hesitantly, he shook it.

"I can change my appearance. Emotions, to be precise." Kano said, as he showed them the variety of faces he could turn into. "But it seems like I change back to my original expression when I get hurt, though."

"I guess I'll punch you every time I catch you putting that mask on then. Like I told Seto before, we will try to limit and learn more about our abilities. We need to find out what happened to us if we want to get anywhere."

"You're really mature for a twelve year old." Kano smirked.

"Shut up!" She yelled, a punch aiming for his face.

The trio got closer and closer as time passed, not bothering to call each other formally anymore. They were like siblings now, and there was almost nothing they didn't know about each other. Kido became more strict, Seto was now almost always seen smiling, and Kano, although he still relied on his ability a lot, had much more emotion, teasing Kido sometimes. They gave themselves the title "Mekakushi Dan". Months went on, which turned into a year, and eventually two years.

* * *

They were already fourteen, and had considerations of running away. They were now able to control their abilities, not to perfection, but to a reasonable amount. However, they weren't able to do anything with only three passive abilities.

Then one day, cries were heard at midnight, waking the trio up. The three stayed silent, and it came closer and closer, until the door of the room was opened. Behind the bars, the three saw a small, albino girl in a blue dress sobbing, a bright, red ribbon in hand.

"Let me go! I wanna go home!" She yelled, putting up a fight against the guards.

"Shut up and get in here." One of the guards yelled, opening the cell door and kicking her in.

If Seto wasn't there to catch her, she would have gotten hurt.

"Get her to shut up." The guard locked them back up, not missing the glare sent by the other three teens.

As soon as the doors closed, the girl started wailing again.

"There, there." Seto smiled slightly, putting in effort to stop the girl from crying. How was he supposed to cheer up a girl close to their age? His eyes slightly turned red for a few seconds, and then returned back to its original color. He tenderly reached for the ribbon in her hands, and tied it around her head.

She slowly looked up at him, teary-faced. When her eyes met his, she turned away in an instant.

"D-don't look! You'll turn into stone if our eyes meet!" She yelled and covered her eyes with her hands.

"Stone?" Kido and Kano looked confused, looking at the Seto who was now chuckling.

"You can open your eyes." He said gently, slowly uncovering the girl's eyes.

"I'm Seto Kousuke, what's your name?"

"M-Mary..."

"Nice to meet you, Mary! The one wearing the orange is Kano, and the one with the green hair is Kido." He explained, pointing at each one of them. At this point, Mary's tears were replaced with curiosity. "I can read minds, Kido can turn invisible, and Kano can change his face."

"D-does your eyes also turn red?" She asked quietly.

"In fact, they do. We believe this is why they put us here." Kido spoke up. She started to talk about their theories on why they had these abilities, adding in hypothesis. Unknowingly, the girl was sitting in Seto's lap, eyes drooping with every sentence Kido was saying.

"Kido, I know you're excited and all, but I think she needs to rest a little." Kano smirked, excessively noting how much Kido could talk.

She cleared her throat. "Yes, you're right. Sorry, I got a little carried away, didn't I? Good night, Mary."

A soft "good night" was heard by the small girl, and soon enough, she was quietly snoring with her head on Seto's lap.

"How cute." Seto smiled to himself, and Kano let out a small laughter.

Before Seto was about to attack back, Kido interrupted. "You saw into her mind, right? Exactly what happened to her?"

"Well..." He scratched the back of his head. "To start off, I don't think she's human. Looks like she was living alone in the forest with her mother, and then when she went outside while her mother was sleeping, she almost got kidnapped. Her mother turned the one who was about to attack into stone, and then died because of the strain on her body."

"So, are you saying this girl can actually turn people into stone?" Kano asked suspiciously.

"We'll have to see. It didn't seem like she could do anything in her memories." Seto replied.

"But how did she end up _here?"_ Kano asked.

"Most likely, the ones who were able to escape went to blame her for turning their friends into stone, since her mother's dead." Kido replied instead, followed by a nodding Seto. "She was forced into this place only a week after the event."

"How pitiful." Kano sighed loudly.

"She's like a little child." Seto said quietly, stroking her hair softly.

"I guess she's the fourth member of the Mekakushi Dan, then." Kido smiled.

At first, all Mary would do was cry and sleep, leaving Seto's shirt was always soaked. But after a couple weeks, she eventually stopped crying, and read the blue book she was able to sneak in by hiding it beneath her dress.

"What's it about?" Seto asked one day.

"It's about a princess getting rescued by a prince." She smiled.

"If it was real life, I think you might be the princess." He grinned, as her's faded.

She shook her head "...I'm the monster." She responded quietly.

Kido quietly walked forward. "Why do you think so?" She questioned, crouching down.

"They all say so." Mary sniffled. "The people who brought me here, and the ones who killed my mother. Even my mother said to my dad that she and I aren't human. What else could you be? No human can live without eating, or live for 140 years. No human can turn people into stone." She wept silently, and Seto wrapped his arms around her.

"But Mary, have you ever _actuall_ y turned anyone into stone?" Kido asked.

Mary hesitated at the question. Did she ever? Her mother was the only one who managed to; she only _heard_ about it from her.

"There we go."

"It's a little embarrassing to say this, but we don't really care what you are." Kano looked away, a slight blush in his cheeks.

"Don't worry about what others think, Mary. Only think about your own happiness." Kido smiled, putting her hand down on the girl's head.

"B-but-"

"But what? Relax. We'll never leave you." Seto smiled.

"Yeah, if this keeps up Seto will end up with you until he dies." Kano teased.

"Don't bully them." Kido glared, her hand heading for his stomach.

"Ow, owww that hurts." He winced.

Mary giggled.

"See? Wouldn't the world be so much better without that fear? Continue smiling, Mary."

And she did so.

* * *

The fifth member arrived about two years after Mary joined, and they were half way done with finalizing the plan to run away.

"I'm Kisaragi Momo, an idol." She introduced herself, looking down.

"A-an idol!" Kido's eyes widened, then twinkled. "Nice to meet you!" She shook her hand furiously. "I'm Kido Tsubomi!"

"Thanks..." Momo looked sideways awkwardly.

"Seto, what is an idol?" A soft voice spoke from behind the teen with a green hoodie.

"Hmm, it's someone who sings and dances in front of many people as a job." He explained, softly tugging the arm clutching his clothes. He focused his attention on the orange haired girl .

"Hello, I'm Seto Kousuke. The one hiding behind me is Kozakura Mary."

"H-hello." She stuck part of her head out, and quickly hid back.

"And I'm Kano Shuuya! What a surprise, having our dear Danchou fawning over you like a jewel!" He smiled widely, and took his hand out for a shake, right before his stomach was punched by the gang leader.

"Danchou?" She asked him, hesitantly shaking back the hand of the half-dead body on the floor.

"Yup! Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, new member!" He stood back up, leaving Momo confused.

"I'm sorry, what? I don't think I agreed to this." She responded.

"Well, it's too late now! Besides, you have eyes like these, right?" Kano turned his eyes red, and grinned when her eyes widened.

"H-how-"

"Everyone here is special you see. Kido has the ability to turn invisible, I can 'wear masks' and change what I look like to others. Seto can read others' minds, and Mary can freeze people."

"Do tell me, Kisaragi, is it? What brought you here?" Kano asked, turning serious.

"Uhm... Well... A long time ago, I received the power of attracting people after my dad and I drowned. Well, I survived, but my dad didn't. Then my powers made me into an idol. Even though it happened a long time ago, just recently the cops investigated and then framed me for drowning my dad on purpose and then attracting people to make it seem like an accident, so there would be more witnesses. And here I am now." Momo said sadly.

"At this point, I feel as if they are blaming us for any deaths or accidents occurring to someone close to us." Seto sighed.

"S-so will she be with us permanently?" The girl with whitish hair finally came out from the back, although not leaving her place next to Seto.

"Yup! You might wanna get friendly with her, she'll also be staying for a _very_ long time." Kano exclaimed.

"Sorry about Mary, she's a shy one." Kido sighed.

"No no, it's perfectly alright! She's a cutie." Mary blushed at the comment, but then flinched when Momo walked closer and bent down. "How old are you, sweetie?" She asked in the friendliest way possible.

"I-I am... uhm... I lived for about 140 summers, so 140?" She questioned, looking up at Seto who nodded dubiously.

"..."

Momo fainted.


	3. The Last Four

"..ragi... Kisaragi!"

"I-Is she alright?"

"Mary, I told you not to scare people like that."

"S-sorry!"

"Don't worry about it, Mary-chan! Tsubomi-chan here is just scared our new addition's going to dislike us~"

"...Do you want to die?"

When Momo came to, she saw four pairs of eyes staring at her.

"Kisaragi-san! Are you alright now?" Seto asked worriedly.

"Yeah, sorry about the trouble I caused." She smiled slightly, rubbing her head.

"I-I'm sorry for surprising you..." Mary said quietly.

"Don't worry about it! A-after all, everyone has their different circumstances..."

And so they talked, to learn more about each other and get to know one another better.

* * *

By the time the sky darkened, Seto, and Kano were asleep, Mary snoring silently between them.

The two older girls sat against the wall quietly. It was Momo who broke the silence first.

"Half medusa, huh? So I guess Mary-chan wouldn't exactly be 'human'?"

"Yup, that's correct. But would you hate her?"

"Eh?"

"Because she's not human, would you hate Mary?" Kido asked again.

"O-of course not! I want to be friends with her!" Momo exclaimed.

Kido smiled.

"Then that's fine. Go to sleep, Kisaragi. "

She obediently did what she was told to do, managing to whisper a quick "goodnight" before sleep took over.

* * *

Not long after, a grouchy, older teen was forced into the cell of the Mekakushi Dan, with a charger and phone in hand.

"Hi. I'm Kisaragi Shintaro." He muttered.

"O-onii-chan?!" The idol exclaimed, the second she recognized his red clothing.

"Onii-chan?" The rest echoed.

"What are you doing here?" Momo slammed her hands down on the floor.

"Eheheh. After you were taken, they decided to search our house. And of course, when they came into my room, they saw Ene." He explained with a heavy sigh, apathetically slumping down to the floor.

"Who is this Ene?" Kido questioned with an icy glare cold enough to make anyone freeze in their tracks.

"E-eh, here she is." He stuttered, shakily turning on his phone, avoiding the eyes of the purple hooded girl.

"Wah! Master! I was scared! I thought they were going to take me away!" A girl in the phone cried.

"There's a girl in the box!" Mary exclaimed, clutching on to Seto tightly.

"You see, Mary, that's not a box. It's something called a phone." The hazel eyed teen explained kindly.

"Haa... what kind of girl doesn't know what a phone is these days?" Shintaro muttered under her breath, not noticing the glare from the albino girl.

"Maybe she's a NEET always trapped inside her hou-" He suddenly stopped talking to himself.

"..."

"...Master?"

"Mary! I thought we told you not to use it just because you get angry..." Kido sighed loudly.

"H-He was making me very mad..." Mary pouted., the ruby eyes reverting back to its pinkish color.

"Heh, we've got to have some kind of entertainment around here, don't you think?" Kano laughed loudly, earning a jab to his ribs.

"Woah, Onii-chan isn't moving at all! This is the first time I've seen Mary-chan use her powers~"

"Hmph." She buried her face on the crook of Seto's neck.

"Ahh! Master turned into stone!" The blue haired girl screeched loudly.

"Don't worry, he's not dead or anything. Mary just temporarily stopped the movement of Shintaro, that's all." Seto laughed quietly, stroking Mary's hair softly.

"Ooh, interesting!" She clapped. "What else, what else?"

"Well, Seto can read thoughts, Kido can turn invisible, and I can change how I look to anyone~" Kano winked.

"So anyways, how did you two get here?" Kido got the group back on track.

"Well, they thought _he-_ " Ene pointed at Shintaro. "-was a genius that somehow invented _me_." She continued.

"And then I got arrested for being something that apparently shouldn't exist. I mean, I completely understand that I'm probably the only cyber human that exists, but isn't locking me up too harsh?" She whined.

"What... No special abilities or such? Man, what a disappointment." Kano sighed loudly.

"Yup, and then they said something _reall_ y wierd, ya know. They thought Master knew all of you, and that _h_ e was the one who "aided" you guys. I'm not sure what that means, but one think I know for sure is that there's _n_ o way Master would communicate with all of you voluntarily. He's a shut-in, after all." She giggled.

Momo laughed loudly. "That is absolutely _impossibl_ e. There's no way Onii-chan could have communicated with _anyone._ "

"Don't laugh about other people behind their back, will ya?" Thr voice grumbled.

"Eeh? You're unfrozen already?" Ene asked with a hint of dissapointment.

"Yes, your shut-in Master is back from being frozen by this small girl, who is _clearly_ not normal." Shintaro crossed his arms, waiting for an explanation.

"Well, duh." Kano rolled his eyes.

"Now now, don't worry about it, Onii-chan. You'll learn someday."

Nobody told him about the powers each of the members had until after a month, when he found out the Momo he allowed to use his lap as a pillow was actually Kano.

* * *

A couple months passed from when Shintaro was thrown into the cell, and he had to admit, he was doing pretty well. Despite being a NEET, he was able to communicate with the Dan decently without screwing up. Well, there was one time when Kido and Seto almost killed him for letting out a long string of cuss words in front of Mary, but that was just a small fluke.

Whenever he and Kido talked, it was more of a mature conversation, and he decided she was the one that was easiest to talk to (although she was frightening majority of the time). She had good planning skills, as he was unable to find loopholes on their escape plan. Sometimes they'd stay up late when none of them could fall asleep, and just end up talking about the most random things that an anti-social person could come up with. Just like when she unintentionally admitted her fear of ghosts. He still got punched real hard (in which he doesn't understand why), but he could say it was a starting point to friendship.

Then there was Kano. The trickster of the Dan. He was actually glad Kano was there. If it wasn't for him, the amount of laughter would reduce by quite a bit. Though he had that "masking" power of his, it was not very hard to Shintaro to see his inner feelings. For instance, it was so obvious how much Kano liked Kido, but why was it that no one else could tell? Maybe it was just a habit from observing people back when he wasn't a high school dropout.

Seto was surely a one-of-a-kind. He had to deal with so much, such as Mary and the small fights between Kido and Kano. But for some odd reason, he was able to do everything so . Since when did a guy know how to tie someone's hair like a pro? And who was nice enough to let someone sit on his lap for hours? It was amazing how that guy could smile constantly. Though, he could be frightening when he decided not to. Maybe it was because he was so used to Seto's cheerful and happy attitude. For instance, when Kano decided to pull on Mary's hair for fun, he remembered how his eyes turned red, and sent a piercing, narrow glare that sent shivers down both his and Kano's body. But honestly, he had to say Seto was the most normal one in the group.

But Mary, on the other hand, was probably the wierdest. Starting from when he froze her for a solid 5 minutes to figuring out she is the granddaughter of a medusa, things just couldn't get wierder. One thing he expected a descendant of a monster to be was scary, deadly, evil, you name it. But she was just the opposite. When he accidentally tore a little bit of her book, she tried her best to keep the tears from falling down and smiled, saying it was alright. Yet, she couldn't look at him properly yet without a small jump. And it's been two months. He even tried his best to be the nicest he could be to her, hesitantly accepting all the possible requests she would shyly make in the limited cell.

He was sure he was getting used to everyone, until two more people came. And for Shintaro, this was only a problem to him.

"I'm... Konoha." The one with white hair and red eyes waved emotionlessly.

"The name's Hibiya." The much shorter one looked away, eyes a little bit puffy and red. Although he tried not to show it, it was clear he cried. He looked like he was in his younger teenage years.

"Welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, and take a seat~" Kano smiled, patting the floor.

"Ok." Konoha responded, following his words. Hibiya, on the other hand, remained standing, his hands clenched tightly.

"H-Hibiya?" Momo exclaimed in suprise.

"What is Oba-san doing here?" He also had the same look on his face.

"What a coincidence! And don't call me Oba-san, I'm only a couple years older than you! Take a seat, take a seat!"

"...No. Why do I have to stay here? I did nothing wrong! My friend just died, and all they could do is send me to this rotten place?" He yelled loudly, causing everyone to flinch.

"Friend... friend... H-Hiyori...?" Momo seemed to be thinking hard, and his tearful eyes proved her prediction was spot on.

"Sit down, kid. Explain from the top so we could know exactly what happened." Kido sighed, arms crossed.

"Like I said, I have no obligation to stay-"

One piercing glare was all it took to get the boy to sit.

"So tell us, what exactly got you two into this place?" Seto asked kindly, holding onto Mary's shaking hand.

"T-they blamed me for Hiyori's death. We were walking across the street, and suddenly a car came crashing through. I-I tried to save her, but she p-pushed me back and the car hit her. Her body disappeared, but they said that I used clairvoyance to cause a purposeful accident to kill her. It doesn't even make sense." Hibiya cried, tucking his head into his arms.

Momo patted the younger boy's head. "Hiyori... She was such a kind girl..."

"Clairvoyance, huh? What about you, Konoha? How did you get here?" Kido asked.

"Hmm... Ah... I forgot." He answered very bluntly, with a slight smile at the end.

"..."

"Anyways, it's all right, Hibiya. We all suffered the same fate you did: one of the closest person in our lives dying. I'm assuming, you got your clairvoyance powers after?" Kido questioned.

He nodded, not lifting his head.

"We'll introduce ourselves. I'm Kido, and I have the power to turn invisible. Concealing eyes, we call it."

"I'm Kano Shuuya, and I have Deceiving Eyes~ I can make myself look different to others!"

"I'm Seto Kousuke, nice to meet you! I have Stealing Eyes, the ability to read thoughts. I really don't use it a lot, though.

"I-I-I'm M-Mary K-Kozakura, I can t-t-turn people i-into s-s-stone..."

"I'm Momo Kisaragi, just call me Momo! I can attract people's attention, called Drawing Eyes!"

"Yoo hoo! I'm Ene, and I'm the smartest computer program there will ever be~"

"It's Shintaro. I can't really... do anything..."

"It's alright, Shintaro. I don't think I can do anything either." Konoha smiled, and Shintaro's face lit up instantly.

"However, you're the only NEET here." Kano reasoned, and Hibiya made a disgusted face.

"A NEET? Wow, Oba-san, I never knew your brother was _this_ much of a failure." He mocked.

"You kid..." Shintaro balled his fist.

"Huh? What's a NEET going to do about it?" Hibiya stuck his tongue out.

"I'll-"

"Stop." Kido grabbed their heads and smashed them together, two loud yells in unison.

"What did you do that for?" Shintaro screamed, small tears in his eyes.

"Mary was trying to get you guys to stop fighting, but you two never listened." Kido pointed a finger at the girl.

"S-Shintaro, why are you ignoring me?" She whispered with a sniffle.

"E-eh, sorry, sorry! Don't cry, Mary!" He panicked, in effort to cheer the girl up.

"P-please stop fighting then." She replied.

"Alright, alright. I got it." He sighed.

"Heh, being controlled by a little girl." Hibiya quietly snickered, and although Shintaro didn't say anything, he sent him a glare.

"Feel better now?" Momo asked.

"No. But I decided sitting around and doing nothing isn't going to get me anywhere. I never saw her dead body, so I'm going to assume she's alive." Hibiya clenched his fists with a determined look.

"Sorry to ruin your confidence, but Hiyori is gone." Kido replied with a frown.

"What... what do you mean?"

"Like I said before, everyone here- with powers anyways- had one person from their lives killed. We believe they were sent to a place called the "Heat Haze Daze", which basically means when both people die, they get sucked into the Heat Haze. But one person recieves an eye ability and is able to come back to the real world, but the other person, would have to stay in there. Forever." She explained.

"So, are you saying there's no way to bring Hiyori back?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"That's... that's not possible. There's got to be a way." He muttered.

"Sorry, Hibiya. If that was the case, I'm pretty sure they all would have been back by now." Ene smiled sadly.

"B-but-"

"It's alright, Hibiya. Let it all out." Momo spread her arms wide.

The boy spent the rest of the day sobbing in her arms.

* * *

"So this is the plan to get out?" Hibiya asked.

"Yeah. Using your clairvoyance powers, this should be much easier than what we originally thought. You can draw a map on the floor. Don't worry, just anything simple will do." Kido explained.

"...What about me?" Konoha asked quietly.

"You can be our back-up, in case Seto can't carry Mary. It's not like we don't know exactly how far the exit is."

"Uhm, Kido... What will Shintaro be doing?" Mary piped up.

"Ah... Shintaro..." She hesitated.

"He'll be carrying Ene!" Kano interrupted.

"...Am I that useless...?"

The only reply he got was a pat on the back from Momo.

"Uhm... Sorry to say this, but I'm not very good at using my powers. I've never been able to intentionally use it." Hibiya looked down.

"It's alright, kid. It's gonna take some practice, just like what happened for all of us." Kido reassured.

"Hey, I have a tip! Why don't you pretend..." Kano whispered the last part in Hibiya's ear, and his face turned bright red instantly.

"W-w-w-w-what-"

"Oi, Kano, what did you say to him?" Kido's eye turned dangerously narrow.

"Nothing~" He smiled, until Konoha spoke up.

"Ah, all he said was 'imagine everyone in their underwear'." He raised a finger.

"Ahh, Konoha! You weren't supposed to say that-"

"Die." Kido's teeth clenched together, and his neck was met with her foot.

"Kano, you're the worst!" Momo screamed, adding on a slap to his face.

"W-wait! I think I see something!" Hibiya interrupted, focusing the rest of the Dan's attention on to him.

"What do you see?" Shintaro asked.

"I... I see what's outside of the door... There's long hallways and so many doors leading to other rooms." He said slowly, pouring all his concentration on his sight.

"Try looking up." Kido instructed, and he did so.

"Pipes... There's so many thin pipes. We won't be able to go through them. We can't do anything through the top."

"What about the bottom?" Ene asked.

"The bottom... Is just solid..." Hibiya sighed, and his red eyes turned back into the original chocolate color.

"Nice work, Hibiya. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time." Seto patted the boy on the back, who gave a small smile.

"Thanks."

"So now we know, the only way we can get out of this place is through the door. Whenever Hibiya is in complete control of his powers, our mission will start. Understand?" Kido spoke loudly, and everyone nodded.

"Yes!"


	4. Nightmare

All it was was a normal day. They were on the road back from the amusement park, hidden from the rest of the world with Kido's powers, smiles glued into each of their faces. Heck, even Shintaro was happy, though he tried his best not to show it.

"Mary, you should get off Shintaro now. He already has no stamina, I feel like he's gonna collapse any second." Kido glanced back.

"Uu, ok. Seto, would it be alright if you could carry me instead? I'm a bit tired..." The girl yawned.

"Of course! Come here, Mary." She carefully got off the exhausted NEET's back, then climbed on to the one she was most comfortable with.

"Are you sure, Shintaro? This might be the only time you would ever be able to carry a girl on your back~" Kano teased.

"Hey, Danchou, I feel like that man is staring at us." Momo suddenly spoke up, silencing the two arguing boys and the rest of the group.

"That's impossible. We should be hidden with my ability." She frowned.

"You're probably just imagining things, Momo." Her brother spoke up.

"Yeah..." She looked sideways to the man one last time, not long before she noticed his smirk. Her eyes widened.

"D-danchou, he's coming this way...!" Momo exclaimed loudly, a panicked look in her eyes.

"What... what the hell..." Shintaro muttered, unable to look away from the man in black.

As the man came closer, Kano stepped forward, plastering a fake smile on his face.

"Hello there! We're really sorry for blocking the road like this; we'll get out of your way, sorry." He smiled kindly.

"...You're the 'Deceiver', aren't you?"

Kano's smile slowly faded, eyes widening.

"You've gotten quite good at using it, haven't you?"

Kano turned around quickly, in confusement of what to do. He saw everyone's surprised eyes, and not soon after felt cold metal on the back of his head. He didn't miss Kido's sudden sobbing.

 _Ah... I'm going to die, aren't I?_ _I'm so foolish, I never got to tell you how much I love you. Sorry._

 **BANG.**

The leader screamed, rushing over to the Deceiver covered in red.

"K-Kano... Kano!" She screamed loudly, holding onto his lifeless body.

"No... no... Kano..." Mary whispered silently as she clutched onto Seto tightly, tears streaming down her eyes. She tilted her head a little bit up, and she saw an expression he never, ever wore. Hatred.

"Heh, did you all enjoy that? Who's next~?" He laughed crazily, not letting go of the gun in his hand.

"Just die." He pointed the gun at Kido, shooting it straight in her heart.

Momo screamed.

"Stop... please..." Mary whispered again, her eyes not averting from the sight in front of her. She could feel Seto's tears landing on her arm, and his grip on her was so tight, it hurt.

"You bastard!" Shintaro jumped in front of Momo, charging at the man in black.

The insane man grabbed Shintaro's phone, slowly breaking it into pieces.

"M-master!" Ene cried before she shattered into pieces.

 _Where did this all go wrong? Did I make a mistake somewhere? Exactly how did it come to this?_

More shots. Both Momo and Shintaro were dead now, despite his effort to protect his little sister.

"Shin... Shintaro...? Momo?" Mary 's voice squeaked out, more drops streaming down her face.

He walked closer and closer to the two, and Seto pulled Mary closer to him.

"Run away." He whispered into her ear.

"N-no..."

With a wide grin, the killer grabbed the green hooded teen by the collar, and his hands moved to his throat.

"Not Seto!" She cried out loud, her body frozen at the spot. Why couldn't she move?

"R-run away, Mary." She was able to make out his words, his head slowly turning to her. She could see the physical pain in his eyes. But, why was it that she couldn't do anything?

"No! I don't want this!" She screamed again, and the man's grin just got wider.

Seto's body suddenly froze, and went limp. He was gone.

 _Seto is gone. Kano is gone. Kido is gone. Momo is gone. Shintaro is gone. Ene is gone. Everyone is gone._

She screamed loudly once again, her head buried into her hands. _They're all gone._

 **"If he's dear to you, use your monstrous powers."**

* * *

"Mary, please wake up." She heard his usually soft voice in a panic.

Upon hearing her own name, the little medusa jolted up, the tears dripping down her pale face. It turned out she had screamed out loud, causing the rest of the Dan to wake up.

"Are you alright, Mary?" Kano asked in concern. Kano. He was dead wasn't he? He was shot by the man. She saw it. She saw it all happen, unless-

"It's all a dream, Mary." Kido spoke softly, patting her white hair gently.

Ah, it was all a dream.

Mary let out a cry of relief, instinctively wrapping her arms around Seto, who was right beside her. She started sobbing, holding onto his green jumpsuit tightly.

"It's all right, Mary." He soothed, stroking her hair. No one but Mary missed Seto's eye changing color, flashing red for a few seconds.

"What is it?" Shintaro whispered to Seto, noticing his small frown.

"Later." He mouthed back.

She cried and cried, letting out all her anger and anguish, caused by whoever that man in black was.

"Take a nice nap, Mary. Calm down a bit. We'll all be right here." Momo suggested after the girl's sobs turned into small sniffles.

She nodded slightly, and looked up at Seto for approval to use his lap. He nodded with a smile, and she laid down, though not letting go of Seto's sleeve. Just in case.

When silence took over and a light snoring was heard, Hibiya was the first one to speak up.

"So... Exactly what happened?"

* * *

Shintaro was confused. Very confused. He was seeing everything Seto described in Mary's dream. The same scene, the same time, the same deaths. Except, he was alive. And so was Mary. But everything around him was frozen. The trees stopped moving, despite the cool wind that he felt on his face. And the one in black, the murderer, wasn't moving either.

Mary walked up to him. But it wasn't the Mary he knew. Her short hair, her cold, red eyes, what was going on?

She cupped his cheek, her forehead pressing against his.

"Please, never [forget] this tragedy." She said, and everything around him turned dark.

 _What... What am I seeing?_

The scene changed again, and this time, he was alone in his room, with the exception of Ene.

"Shut up, Ene!" He heard, and he realized he was looking at himself. That wasn't what he usually wore, right?

"Please, go experience the world! You can't just stay in this room forever!" Ene pleaded, to the point of begging.

"Someone like you wouldn't understand." He walked closer to the monitor.

"It's not your fault [_] is gone!"

 _?_

"Shut up."

 _No- Don't do it-_

His large hands wrapped around Ene's neck, and the blue girl's eyes widened.

"M-Master-"

The screen glitched, the girl gone, and the only thing that remained was the blue screen flashing.

 _What... What is this? There's no way that's me!_

"A-ah-" He watched himself fall to the floor, screaming in misery. The blue screen continued to flash.

The dark Shintaro proceeded to take out a pair of red [scissors], holding it tightly in his hands.

 _The fuck...?_

He let out a laugh, and in a quick second, stabbed himself directly in the throat.

 _This... This..._

Before he could think, the screen changed once again. This time, he was in a scene with both himself and the black clothed man.

 _He's... killing himself?_

The gun was pointed at his head- not Shintaro's, but his [own].

He could only stare as the other Shintaro ran up to the stranger, and interfered with the gun shot. He was dead again.

This time, he saw himself in a place he never saw before. It dark, so much darker than the world he was used to.

 _Is this... is this the "Heat Haze Daze"...?_

And further in the distance, he saw he was not alone. The rest of the Dan was there, surrounding the _other_ Shintaro, looking at what it seemed to be a smartphone. As he got closer and closer, he realized that Mary, Seto, and Hibiya were missing, replaced with three other people he did not know. Though, the male did look pretty similar to Konoha, if it weren't for the darker hair. And who was the one with red hair next to Kido? They seemed as if they were pretty close. And the one on the right, Shintaro could swear he saw her before. The red scarf, the brown hair, it was so familiar, but he just couldn't wrap his head around it.

 _Ah... I'm dead again, aren't I? Seems like everyone made it to the Heat Daze._

He watched as Kano snuck away from the group, only to be pulled back in by Kido.

"Hehehe, Kano's too embarrassed to talk to you, Seto." He could hear Ene smirk.

"N-no, I'm not-"

The group laughed, and Shintaro could feel himself smiling slightly as he watched himself laugh along.

 _Is this... finally the [good end]?_

And the world [reset] again.

* * *

"Onii-chan, are you alright? You slept for quite a while." His sister spoke.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry about me. It's probably because Mary woke us up in the middle of the night yesterday. How is she, anyways?" He averted the attention to Mary.

"She's alright! But she still won't let go of Seto. Though I'm her best friend." Momo pouted, and Shintaro couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"What can you say, she's a _Setoholic._ " He responded.

"Onii-chan, how do you think Mom is doing? We left her alone..." His sister leaned her head on his shoulder, and he was able to see the small bits of tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Momo. She'll be fine. She's our mom, after all. Besides, I'm pretty sure she gets the gist of it. I was able to see her before I came here, so it should be alright." He reassured.

"I really hope so." She replied quietly.

"Good morning, Momo and Shintaro." The two suddenly heard the familiar voice of the leader.

"Morning, Danchou." Momo smiled brightly, lifting herself up to her feet.

"You guys woke up pretty early today."

"Guess so." Shintaro replied.

"That's good. After all, today's the day we [put our plan into action]."


End file.
